Old Blog which ran from August 2003 to November 2009 – all members of the family including all three of my daughters and their mum (my ex) had access to update but it was almost exclusively me that did all the typing.

It was set up as a way of staying in touch with family after ‘the HD&DH family’ moved away from our home town of Leicester to Cambridge – so it was almost always an update blog.

For the nosey parkers and the socially interested, enjoy!

Extract is from January 2007 – September 2008 only!

Unfortunately Blogger.com lost everything pre January 2007 and Geocities lost everything since September 2008 to the May 2010 : (

Heya friends and family!

It has been a while since I have spoken to you all, seeing as last time it was nearly Xmas ’07 and its September ’08 now!!
So how are you all? Because I’m fine, and I love being a year 6, I feel so grown up being the top of the school, especially because I am the 2nd oldest in the school and the oldest girl in the school. On Tues 9th, after school, I am going to audition for Arts and Education ballet!! Plus if I get through, fingers crossed I do!, I will be in the play ‘The Nutcracker’ at Demontfort Hall!!!!!!! (I think that’s how you spell Demontfort?!) Anyway I am really excited, no really, really excited!

I am going to go and do some other stuff!
Love You All
Millie xx

Life just goes on, we still have a few boxes left to unpack and of course there are things that we can not find that we would like to that don’t seem to be in any of the boxes we have unpacked yet!

Clare’s new job started about four weeks ago and she has settled in very well and appears to be enjoying it very much.

The girls have all started to settle in better than we had hoped, making friends and they have started back at things like Brownies, Guides, Gymnastics and Ballet so our evenings are filled with chauffeur duties…

Shamefully we have not had hardly any time since Christmas to visit friends and family as much as we would like so expect some dinner invitations in the near future (start practising those excuses).

Speak to you all soon, Phil.

Not quite, we have half unpacked boxes all around us, but BT did get our broadband running a day earlier than expected which was nice.

Our removal men either did it on purpose or it’s just the way of things, but salt seems to be separated from pepper, right shoes from left and the nuts, bolts and screws required to put furniture back together are packed in a different house I think, very exasperating.

Anyway, this is the first thing I have done since the computer got up and running for the first time in Frolesworth, so I actually have loads of other things to be doing, but I will just give you a quick update of what has been happening.

Clare has had a job interview and has two more this week so hopefully we will be seeing some additional income coming in which is always nice.

Robyn enjoyed her first day at school and has got an official friend at school and has made friends with the girl who lives over the road, this is especially good when it comes to catching the bus to and from school (I will leave Robyn to tell you about that adventure).

Millie and Phoebe both like their new school and have also made friends with classmates and their teachers which is very positive, Phoebe is still not sure about catching the school bus but is getting over the challenge with guts and determination.

I have thoroughly enjoyed travelling home after work, first Tuesday night home with Clare and the kids for nearly eleven months.

Got to go, things really do need unpacking.

Write soon, Phil
Well we are nearly all packed, the removal men are coming in about half an hour to finish packing the last few remnants, Clare and I are giving the house a clean so that the new owner loves it from the start, the pets (except Kipper) are housed at Grandparents, the Kids (except Phil) are housed at Grandparents and we leave Quy for the last time in about three hours.

We are going to miss everyone in Cambridgeshire, we love the house and Quy and have made some amazing friends in the area, but we are also really looking forward to living in our new home in Leicestershire.

Well got to go, last blog or anything for the next week or so as it takes five days for our broadband to be reconnected? Made up BT rule I think.

Write soon, Bye Quy, Phil, Clare, Robyn, Millie and Phoebe xxx

Last night at about 4:45pm it was confirmed that we had exchanged house buying documents throughout our house buying chain and that we have a completion (move) date of the 30th of November!

We are all so pleased, it has been very tense and nerve wracking recently, with no one really sure that the house sale would not fall through.

So must dash, I am off to escort the Minister for Tourism MP Margaret Hodge around Stratford-upon-Avon today and we have lots to do, only seventeen days to go before we move house.
Phil

Well no news on the house move, we will wait and see what happens on Monday but then I think it will have to be ultimatum time. The people at the bottom of the chain have got cold feet but have not pulled out of the sale (yet) so fingers crossed please everyone.

It has come to our attention that e-mails and other communications have not been getting through, this was unfortunately due to our rather zealous firewall and virus protection software. The settings have been toned down a little so now your e-mails etc. should get through as will your blog comments and guest book signings.

To e-mail any of the Hackett, Drew and Drew-Hackett family just click on their ‘e-mail me’ button which is underneath the photo of themselves on their own page of the web site, this should now go straight through and not be rejected.

Sorry if this has happened to you, a technical fault out of our control until today.

Speak soon, hopefully with a house deal signed and in my hand. Phil.

Yesterday I went back to school. I had a really good time. Bye Phoebe

Hi all, just checking out the family on our web pages as I am feeling a bit down and missing them all loads (I shall phone them in a bit to say Hi and cheer myself up).

House Sale Update: Not really anything up to tell you, our move date of the 26th of October came and went, the new date of the 2nd of November is going to pass by tomorrow and we still do not know when the people at the bottom of the chain are going to agree to exchange contracts.

At this moment it is fifty/fifty as to whether the sale falls through or goes ahead as planned eventually…. very stressful.

The girls have spent three days at home being home educated but are all going back to their old schools tomorrow as we can’t keep them off school for any longer, they are being really good about it but you can not imagine the stress they are going through, stay strong girls.

Just blogging at work (it is about 6pm) so must go finish tasks for the day and get on back to the folks, may pop round and see a friend tonight, tell you about it next time.

Love Phil.
Isabel if you want my phone number send me an e-mail by clicking on the e-mail me button below my photograph, I will tell u my new one when i move byexx

I am round my friend Laurens house and my other friend Izzy is here as well, this morning I told you all that I was going to a disco well I haven’t gone yet but I am getting ready here at Laurens house. I will let Lauren write a quick message if she wants to: oh she doesn’t want to but Izzy does: HI Everyone who reads this and hi to all my friends as well It’s soooo cool writing my first blog EVR. Gd bye gotta go. Back to me again hello to all my family around the world I feel famous there is so many people reading my blogs its as if i am a superstar! Its so great anyway my friends are getting bored with me writing see you all later love all of you. bye.xx Izzy’s quick message: Gd Bye. Bye!Millie

Hiya today’s Friday as u probably know I am going to a disco and I am really looking forward to it!

Just playing on the computer really at the moment I went to the supermarket with dad at about half past 8! to buy some breakfast. I wanna play on the computer for a bit so see you all later love you milliexx
Hi again not long since I last spoke to you all mum, me robyn, phoebe and rachel my mums friend are going to see nancy drew at the cinema today wahoo

alright gotta go luv u all milliex

Hi everyone,

I have just been taught how to do blogs!
so is everyone ok coz I am, pb is watching tv, dobby is going to the cinema today with her friend and I have nothing to do! Mum and Dad want to go to this old antiquey thing (which sounds really boring) at the village hall here in quy………

anyway see ya all later, bye!

Phoebe and Clare have had their profiles reviewed in the Jackdaw Chatter (the Quy Village Magazine) and they can be viewed by visiting Clare’s web page on the Family Web Site and clicking on Quy Village in her links and then click Jackdaw Chatter when you get to the Quy page.

Enjoy, Phil.

Well, sorry for the lack of blog for months on end but as you may or may not be aware for the last ten months or so I have been working away from home and staying at my folks house Monday to Friday, which has meant that I have had very little time to muck about on the PC at the weekends because I wanted to spend as much quality time with Clare and the girls as possible.

So anyway the main news is we have a moving date (at last) which is as near confirmed as it can be at this late stage, all questions and queries have been asked, surveys completed, money and/or mortgage prepared and in place and proposed moving dates agreed!!

On the 26th of October we will be moving from Stow-cum-Quy in Cambridgeshire to Frolesworth in Leicestershire and we can not wait, I will have to update the blog and the family web pages with a new picture of the house as well as starting a regular update on line (seeing as I will have no more excuses!).

Other news: Robyn’s school got OFSTED inspected last week and came out with a good to outstanding score which is obviously excellent, she is having a great start to the term having been awarded something like fifteen merit awards (yellow stickers) for good behaviour/hard working/good homework etc. So hopefully the move will not upset her education levels too much especially as for Robyn the move is quite upsetting as she has made some lovely friends here.

Millie has started to attain e-mail and snail mail addresses of all her friends and I am sure that she will be keeping in touch with as many of her friends here as she does with her friends in Leicester.

Phoebe has also started to gather contact details (as well as conkers (about thirty in her room at the moment)from her friends and is looking forward to picking out her new bedroom.

All three of the girls are compiling a scrapbook of their time here in Cambridge and Stow-cum-Quy and I promise to scan and upload the best bits on their web pages after we have moved.

That will do for today, speak/write to you all soon, Phil.

This weekend we have mostly been gardening in the back garden and decorating the dining room, in preparation for putting the house on the market for our next big move to the Cotswolds or maybe South Warwickshire, who knows?

Millie is sat next to me (correcting all my spelling, she’s quicker than spellcheck) because I am showing her how to write a bolg, so hopefully (Millie has just pointed out that I have spelt blog as bolg, told you she was quick) she can also contribute to the family web pages on a regular basis in future?

Clare has access to the blog and knows how but…….she is very busy so obviously blogs are a low priority, in fact on that point I think I have some work to do as I can hear Clare up a step ladder and we are just mucking about on a computer!!

Got to go, we are all healthy and happy (within reason as it is very hard living apart at the moment), Robyn has gone to Wicken Fen with her friend to make faces at her older sister who works there, Phoebe has gone toboganning on a dry ski slope for her friends birthday (the plural of friend is apt as they are non-identical twins) and Millie is sat with me (ain’t she the lucky one!!).

Speak soon, Phil.

I am about to start my fourth week in my new role at work and I have to say it feels like I have been there forever! Which is a good thing. I am really loving the work and the people are truly lovely, the organisation is in a bit of a financial and structural mess but I guess that is why they have appointed someone like me, to come in and sort it all out. So I have a fair amount to get my teeth into, in fact if I don’t plan it well it could be a very tough first six months with lots of new things about to happen or already on the way and lots of old working and projects from the past that need to be brought up to date etc.

I have been living away from home Monday to Friday, with the first two weeks spent in a lovely house in a village called Broom (just outside Bidford on Avon) but unfortunately my landlord hiked the price by over a thousand pounds for the three months that I was planning to stay there, long story but I can see it going to court!! So for the first fortnight I stayed in Broom and since then my Mum and Dad have been putting up with me!! Very weird being back at ma and pa’s but they have been more than accommodating and I am literally only there for a few hours each night as I am putting the hours in while I can (as in without it having any further affect on the family (living away from home is already having a big enough affect)). I am going to try and make the most out of my time back in Leicester by going to see old friends etc. also believe it or not it is easier and quicker to get to my office in Warwick from Leicester than it was from Bidford!!

I officially opened the new exhibitions at Belgrave Hall last week, with scissors and a ribbon and everything, it was the night of all the snow so there were not that many people there but at least fifty had turned up and the Leader of Leicester City Council (Cllr Roger Blackmore) and I were the specially invited guests. Talking of being a special guest did I tell you that I was invited to review the Sunday papers with Wincey Willis last weekend!! can you believe it I spent an hour with the wonderfully winsome Wincey Willis!! I had a great time, a fantastic way to earn a living.

Anyway got to go, I need to pick up Robyn from a party (at 10pm!!), hopefully the girls or Clare will update the blog soon! Do not hold your breath, we can not be held responsible for any loss of consciousness.

After weeks, well to be honest months of mucking about with both the Blog provider and the web page provider to try and resolve the blog issue, I finally decided to delete the blog, (sorry if you had some huge desire to go back and look at the old blogs becuase they have gone forever (well they are in the archive but only I have access to those)) and start again.

Lo and behold, the blog now works and is accessible by all, hopefully the girls and Clare will do some blog writing, especially as we are now spending a few too many days a week apart because of my new job.

Talking of the new job, it has been a fast paced and exciting start to the new year and the new role, with my face, my story and my appointment making the front page and the inside pages of lots of the local and regional newspapers, I will see if there is a link that I can paste at the bottom for you to have a look at.

Well will update you all later, it has taken me about an hour to get the blog working again and I have to go and do some more important stuff instead.